Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has held discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on whether the forthcoming Women's Health Strategy is planned to inform the criteria for the allocation of funding from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) and (b) ARIA on prioritising research into women’s health prior to the publication of that strategy.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
ARIA’s leaders, not Government, will be responsible for the strategic direction of their programme portfolio. While there are many UK funding programmes for which Ministers do set the strategic direction, ARIA is specifically being set up without those constraints. We aim to establish ARIA in Spring 2022.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to increase funding for (a) epilepsy treatments and medication and (b) UK life-sciences research more widely.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds research into epilepsy primarily through the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Funding for research projects that specifically refer to epilepsy in the project title or abstract in each of the last five years are set out in the table below. This does not include wider funding that contributes to epilepsy research.
Financial year 2014/2015 | Financial year 2015/2016 | Financial year 2016/2017 | Financial year 2017/2018 | Financial year 2019/2020 |
£8m | £6.2m | £8.4m | £9.7m | £10.6m |
The DHSC-funded National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) facilitates and enables life science research, from early translational research, through clinical research, to applied health research. Life science companies can access NIHR resources at any stage in their clinical development process and DHSC ensures all parts of the NIHR are open to collaboration with industry.
The Government is committed to making the UK a global hub for life sciences. This means building on our strengths in basic science and medical research to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of worldwide efforts to tackle the most pressing healthcare challenges, from cancer to dementia.
As part of our commitment, the Government will raise total UK investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Life Sciences is critical to this – with the pharmaceutical industry accounting for one fifth of the total industrial spend on R&D in the UK1.
We will also continue to support our fantastic research infrastructure, which bolsters the sector, stimulates economic growth and drives better outcomes for patients.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the Green Homes Grant scheme until 31 March 2022.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme was designed to provide a short-term economic stimulus while tackling our contribution to climate change. However, it was not delivering at the rate and scale we had originally intended. The scheme closed on 31 March 2021 and will not reopen.
We will refocus efforts and funding on alternative approaches which will maximise delivery of home retrofits for consumers who are most in need.
The Government will be expanding its funding commitment for both the Local Authority Delivery element of the Green Homes Grant scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with £300 million of new funding.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities to exclude coach tour operators from the Restart Payments; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has introduced an unprecedented package of support for businesses including grants for those businesses that are required to close or which are severely affected by the restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19 and save lives.
Coach Tour Operators are not eligible for the Restart Grant Scheme. This is because eligible businesses must offer in-person services, where the main service and activity takes place in a fixed rate-paying premises, in the relevant sectors.
However, they may be able to access discretionary support through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG). This funding gives Local Authorities the ability to provide support that suits their local area including to support those businesses not required to close but which have had their trade severely affected by the restrictions. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced an additional £425m will be made available via ARG meaning that more than £2bn has been made available to local authorities since November 2020.
Guidance was published for Local Authorities on 17th March for both the Restart Grants and the Additional Restrictions Grant, and guidance for the Additional Restrictions Grant identifies that group tour and coach operators can be considered for support through this funding.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether door-to-door selling is permitted during the period of covid-19 lockdown restrictions announced in January 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
Door-to-door sales should not take place during the national lockdown. Sales activities should be conducted remotely (such as by phone, online or e-mail) as set out in the business closures guidance.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to increase the competitiveness of the business environment to support the growth of the UK maritime industry.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Government recognises the importance of the UK maritime sector to our economy. BEIS is working with the sector and other Government departments to facilitate access to innovation support via UKRI programmes.
BEIS will continue to work with the Maritime Enterprise Working Group, addressing issues of common concern to secure a truly competitive, sustainable and globally successful marine engineering and shipbuilding industry.